I have always been a big fan of Irving. There are always elements of tragedy and healing in his books that never fail to move me. This book differed from others he has written in that he actually reveals his writing process through one of his main characters, who is a writer as well. Interesting stuff. Would recommend it to anyone, in particular Irving fans. And to those fans...do not get put off by yet another appearance by a bear. That may cause some eyes to roll, thinking "not another damn bear", but I urge you - read on. ( )

I love John Irving he is so quirky and interesting but have to say that this book wasn't my cup of tea!Domonic Baciagalupo is a cook in a logging and Sawmill settlement in Northern New Hampshire, his son Daniel who is 12 years old lives with him. They are close as Daniel's Mom has died in a dreadful accident, (which in itself is peculiar, as we later find out!)One night in a confused and tragic event Daniel mistakes Domonic's lover for a bear! Domonic loves his son so much this event starts a lifetime of running and fear.A determined (unstable, drunk) police officer is on their trail and they have to avoid him at all costs.Ketcham, Domonic's one true friend (and who is tied up tight as a kipper to the pair!) with plenty of nouse and attitude is doing his best to see that this happens.There are complications and twists thoughout the story, but it does seem to be very slow in places.Irving I have noticed with most of his books manages to (randomly!!) get a bear in the story somewhere and it is no different with this book!!As I say I really like John Irving's style of writing, but this book just didn't click with me personally. ( )

The coy hints of connections between the author and the narrator have been forced onto a plot that can’t accommodate them, and the fact that Danny is a famous novelist too often seems a mere contrivance, giving Irving a convenient opportunity to include rambling background information and to air his own ideas about writing. In his bid to make something “serious,” Irving has risked distracting readers from what otherwise could be a moving, cohesive story.

I thought I was heading for another “The Cider House Rules,” my personal favorite of his novels. But the full reading experience ended up being more like “A Widow for One Year,” where one outstanding section has to carry the weight of the whole book. And at 554 pages, that’s a lot to carry.

Irving playfully invents a story that’s as much about the pleasures of reading one of his novels as it is anything else, until it poignantly turns into a paean for a dying art and a plea for the idea of the story. This could all seem self-indulgent. Instead, it’s Irving’s best since the ’80s.

Irving's story is engrossing, and he gives us a satisfying assortment of fully realized characters: Carl, a cruel, ignorant police officer; Ketchum, a hard-drinking, violent logger who devotes himself to protecting the cook and his son and whose favorite exclamation is “Constipated Christ!”; Six-Pack Pam, whose name pretty much says it all; and Lady Sky, the aforementioned parachutist, who becomes the love of the cook's son's life.

Mr. Irving uses coincidences, cliffhanger chapter endings and other 19th-century novelistic devices to hook the reader, while at the same time orchestrating them to underscore the improbable, random nature of real life. Some of his inventions — like a murderous blue car that appears to have zeroed in on Danny’s son — are ludicrous at first glance, but the reader gradually comes to understand that they are writerly metaphors for the precarious nature of life in “a world of accidents.”

With his narrative fits and starts, well-worn themes and repetitiousness, Irving can seem to be almost a graceless writer. Yet while “Last Night” has those potential flaws -- I say potential because the same characteristics are an accepted part of oral narration -- it’s tightly plotted overall, suspenseful and ultimately evocative.

In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Both the boy and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County--to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto--while pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercly libertarian logger who befriends them.

In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River depicts the recent half-century in the United States as "a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course."

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In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County-to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto-pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them. A tale that spans five decades.… (more)